And City boss Coleman put his side's desperately poor first half down to tiredness.

He said: “I think the West Brom game took a lot out of us on the back of a busy period with the Leicester and Cardiff games as well and we pushed all three teams and I think that has taken its toll.

“Again we couldn’t get into the pace of the game in the first half when they came out like a team who are fighting for survival and we fell in between.

"We didn’t really pass it and never really tackled and I have got to put a lot of that down to fatigue.

“But there are no excuses – Sheffield Wednesday also played in the week, but we looked like a team that thought, ‘you know what, we hit the post in the last three games and have not quite got to where we want to be.’

“We were on a bit of a downer and we can’t afford to think like that.

"It was another game and another chance to get three points.

“We were better in the second half when we were more forceful and played with a bit more purpose, and it looked like we were going to score before they did, but as it happened they got the goal after poor defending by us.

“I think the defending for that goal, really, summed up our performance in the first half – half-hearted.

"It was a bit route-one, but nevertheless it was a great header and we could have won it and should have won it.

“We have got a tired bunch of players at the moment, physically and mentally.

"It was only a couple of weeks ago we were playing Cardiff and if we had won we would have gone into the top six – but we got the game taken away from us, not from Cardiff but by the officials, and that had a big effect on us.”